À l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleur 18'
The second installment of the Recherche was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 1919, immediately pleasing critics. This volume follows the narrator’s naïve love for Gilberte Swann, the daughter of a friend of his family, as well as his vacation in the (fictional) beach resort of Balbec in Normandy. His crush on Gilberte would allow the narrator to develop his theory of love, which he would refer back to in the later volumes. Even better is his séjour in Balbec, where he evolves from a shy, anxious teen to one that follows a group of cool girls and learns from impressionist painter Elstir. The last few pages of this volume are pure aesthetically pleasing, blissful prose, so it is only natural it became immediately a hit upon publication.